FSSAI issues notices to Nestlé and Hindustan Unilever over misleading claims, non-compliances

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Saturday (October 17) issued formal notices to Nestlé India Ltd. and Hindustan Unilever Ltd. over alleged misleading claims and labelling non-compliances on two of their flagship products: Horlicks Women’s Plus Chocolate Nutrition Drink and the Nescafé Ready-to-Drink range.

In addition, the FSSAI also suspended licenses for M/s Sukhdarshan Pharma and M/s Bala Ji Food Products for serious food safety violations. The strict enforcement actions against several major brand manufacturers and local FBOs after they were found to have misleading claims, non-compliance with labelling regulations, and severe food safety violations, according to the FSSAI.

Horlicks Women’s Plus under scrutiny

In its notice to M/s Hindustan Unilever Limited regarding the “Horlicks Women’s Plus Chocolate Nutrition Drink 400g,” the FSSAI flagged several claims as misleading or non-compliant with applicable regulations. These include “Nutrition for Strong Bones,” “Clinically Proven to Help Improve Bone Strength in 6 Months,” and “Improves Bone Health.”

The regulator also found the “Healthy Muscles” claim to violate provisions governing the use of the term “healthy” in food claims. Additionally, the “No Added Sugar” claim was deemed misleading given the presence of maltodextrin in the product, while the claim of “100 per cent RDA of Calcium, Vitamin D & K2” was found not to comply with applicable food safety requirements.

The notice further pointed out that the Nutritional Information table was not provided in the prescribed manner. The FSSAI has directed the Food Business Operator (FBO) to respond within the stipulated period, and has asked licensing authorities and e-commerce platforms to take necessary action under applicable food safety laws.

Separately, the regulator also observed that the products were found to fall under the standardised category of “Flavoured Milk” as prescribed under the FSS (Food Products and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, making their declaration as “Proprietary Food” incorrect. Such inconsistent labelling and advertising were found to contravene the FSS (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018, and the FSS (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020. The concerned FBOs have been asked to clarify why action should not be initiated under the FSS Act, 2006, with the FSSAI warning that further steps, including halting non-compliant advertisements and issuing corrective ads, may follow.

Nestlé India’s Nescafé range flagged for inconsistent labelling

In a separate notice, the FSSAI flagged M/s Nestlé India Limited, along with manufacturers M/s Schreiber Dynamix Dairies Private Limited and M/s Lotus Dairy Products Pvt. Ltd., over non-compliance issues in the “Nescafé Ready-to-Drink” range. The regulator found that Nestlé India was marketing and selling “Nescafé Intense Café” Cappuccino flavour, “Nescafé Choco Mocha” and “Nescafé Chilled Latte” on e-commerce platforms. The products were found to carry inconsistent descriptions on their packaging, the front of the pack declared “Flavoured Milk,” while the back declared “Proprietary Food – 1.12 Dairy Based Drink.”

Adding to the inconsistency, e-commerce listings described the products as “Coffee Flavoured Milk,” despite the back-of-pack declaration as “Proprietary Food.” The FSSAI also noted that product descriptions on e-commerce platforms contained claims such as being “crafted with the goodness of flavoured double toned milk,” which did not align with the declared composition and category of the product. The FSSAI has not specified the timeline for compliance in the Nestlé notice but has flagged the matter for appropriate regulatory follow-up.

In a similar move, the FSSAI has proposed banning the addition of sucrose and fructose in infant nutrition products made for babies up to six months old. It decided to bring stringent rules on added sugars in a market valued at $1.16 billion.